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From Print to Place: The Richard B. Yale Collection

The collection of Richard B. Yale bears his distinctive brand. Dick Yale, a long-time resident of San Diego, has worn many hats during his lifetime; he has been a printer, journalist, publisher, photographer, historian and bibliophile. In 1962, he established the Butterfield Express: Historical Newspaper of the Great Southwest, which features articles printed in the style of the Old West.

The San Diego State University Special Collections and University Archives now houses Yale's extensive collection. Yale has donated books, manuscripts, photographs, correspondence, keepsakes and other materials relating to the history of printing, California and the American West to be preserved and used by researchers.

Yale's several decades of collecting have led to an accumulation of rare books on the process of printing and typography, the life histories of their artisans and bookbinding. Among the typographical treasures is American Wood Types, 1828-1900: Volume One, collected, cataloged and printed by practitioner and historian Rob Roy Kelly. Other classic type specimen books include The Woodtype of the Angelica Press and De Little's Wood Type Specimens by Robert De Little. Some of the collection's holdings, such as Specimen Book and Catalogue, 1923 and American Line Type Book, offer examples of type that were available during the early 1900s, as well as descriptions of the act of printing and the machinery used in the process.

The collection also boasts rare, handmade, limited editions: The Life Work of Dard Hunter, by Dard Hunter II, a two-volume set that highlights the experiences of this early 20th-century printer, and Clifford Burke's Printing Poetry: A Workbook in Typographic Reification are two such gems. Adding even greater value to the collection are Yale's own standing and hand-printing presses, drawers of wood- and metal-type specimens that represent hundreds of font styles, and vintage cameras that he used during his lengthy career.

Works that showcase the beauty of bookmaking and fine printing also make up the Yale Collection. One example is a limited-edition copy of Herman Melville's classic tale Moby-Dick; or, The Whale bound in a handmade, blue Moroccan leather cover and filled with intricate woodcut illustrations, published in 1979 by San Francisco's Arion Press. Another work recalls printing of the 15th century: in 1981, Zeitlin & Ver Brugge, Booksellers, of Los Angeles, and H.M. Fletcher of London published A Leaf from the Letters of St. Jerome, based on the Sixtus Riessinger edition of St. Jerome's letters that originally dated from 1466 to1467.

While the history of printing long captured Yale's fancy, so, too, has the history of place-specifically California and the West. Books relating to regional history range from those of writers such as Charles Fletcher Lummis, Helen Hunt Jackson, and Mary Austin to a Pacific Coast souvenir book featuring scenic images from 1888. The collection also includes unusual items like the program for the National Lumber. (more)

(above) Stained glass artwork by Dard Hunter.